Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a furniture assembly, and more particularly, to a sofa bed or convertible bed having a mechanism for securing the furniture assembly in an appropriate position.
Background
A sofa bed is usually a sofa with a seating surface, a back surface, and arms, which includes a foldable bed located in the area below the seating surface. When being used as a sofa, it as appears as any regular sofa designed for seating. When the user wishes to use the sofa bed to convert to a bed, he typically removes the seat and back cushions and pulls out and unfolds the foldable bed contained within. Examples of this type of arrangement are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,644,171 and 3,975,783.
These sofa beds, while providing a convenient way to provide for overnight guests, have their disadvantages. The mattress is typically thin so that it may be folded when the bed is stored in the sofa. This thin mattress is supported by a metal frame work between which is spread a fabric. Often times the fabric provides insufficient support causing the sleeping surface to sag while the rigid metal frame work causes ridges of hardness. The combination of the sag and the ridges provides an uncomfortable sleeping surface. Further, there is the matter of storing the sofa cushions that are removed. To access and deploy the bed, the seat cushion of the sofa must be removed. The cushions are light in weight, but they are bulky and must be stored somewhere while the bed is in use. Likewise, if the sofa has back cushions, those must be stored as well. Furniture may also have to be moved in order to deploy the bed as is the case if a coffee table is located in front of the sofa.
Another type of sofa bed utilizes the rear of the seat back as the sleeping surface. The seat back is usually mounted on a pivot so that the seat back can be rotated to a horizontal position so that the rear surface faces down and the rear surface faces up. This type of assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,137. This arrangement provides a better sleeping surface than the former as the bed or mattress does not need to be foldable. This does away with the associated folding metal framework that caused ridges of hardness across the sleeping surface. Another advantage is that the furniture does not need to be moved relative to the floor or room wall to deploy the bed. However, this arrangement is not without its disadvantages as the seat cushions and any back cushions must still be removed to deploy the bed. While this may not be an onerous burden to all, there may not be a convenient place to store the cushions. If the bed is being used in a hotel where housekeeping staff is expected to prepare the bedding, time may be lost in removing or replacing the cushions each time the bedding is changed. Likewise, a hotel guest does not want to be burdened with a cumbersome conversion from one configuration to the other and storage of seating components such as cushions.
In addition, many sofa beds and lounge chars are intended to be situated in certain locations. For example, a sofa bed may be configured for placement against a wall. In this case, placement against the wall restricts access to certain mechanisms of the sofa bed that might be hazardous to an owner, guest, etc. For example, the wall may act as a form of protection against the unintentional conversion of the sofa bed from the sitting position to the sleeping position. Unfortunately however, owners and guests are known to move the day beds away form their designated locations. Moreover, it is beneficial for the sofa bed to easily convert from the sofa position to the bed position. However, slamming the sofa bed open or shut during conversion can be hazardous if precautions are not taken.
The present invention solves the problems described above. The sofa bed described herein provides a superior sleeping surface over that of the foldable beds. The sofa bed is easily convertible from the seating configuration to the sleeping configuration without the removal of the seat cushions, and also provides a mechanism for locking the sofa bed in place to prevent unintended conversion. The back portion and the seating portion are mechanically linked though a link assembly so that rotating the back portion retracts the seating portion into the sofa frame. The link assembly provides a mechanism for locking the bed in a particular position such as the sofa position. The design allows for a made bed to be available by a simple rotation of the seat back of the sofa, but also improves security by preventing unintentional conversion of the bed. This sofa bed is therefore particularly adaptable where space is at a premium, ease of storage an advantage and it is uniquely adapted to situations such as that found in the hospitality, resort or even cruise ship environments.